It was beautiful and sunny as we were on our way; we figured the marine layer would burn off by noon. It didn’t.

This was our view until we left at 3:30 when the wind picked up and it got chilly.

We did have fun though. Britton loves his aunt Chezney.

And…

Swimming in the sand

Dumping sand on himself

Playing with Shells

Throwing dice

The girls…and boy.

Britton fell asleep as soon as we backed out of the parking space. Thanks for the fun day mom!

Last week we went with a bunch of friends to Underwood Family Farm. This place is great! There are so many things for kids to do and see. Britton fed animals, rode on a tractor,

sat in a train, ran up and down hills, climbed a hay pyramid,

and even picked a few strawberries!

These were maybe the best strawberries ever. So sweet and juicy.

Britton approved!

I quickly picked 2 pints. I could’ve been there all afternoon. I just kept seeing more and more delicious-looking bright red berries. I even picked my own cilantro and a few carrots. Plus got lots of additional goodness they picked at the market they have there.

He was asleep about 2 seconds after we left.

This week we visited the Zimmer Children’s Museum. The whole thing is full of exhibits the encourage kids to play, learn and discover. Britton was exhausted by the time we left!

The green circle is a button that activates lights in the bigger silver-looking circle. He loved it!

An interactive display where he could make different musical instrument sounds and have it play back. I’m sure you can imagine how long we sat here.

Playing with food in the restaurant (or market) There was also a big magnetic board with foam letters. He liked that too.

We’ll definitely have to go back. There is a lot more planned in the weeks ahead…and we can hardly wait!

The Boys

Jammin’ on those drums

Shake, shake, shake

Blowing out the candle. He actually did it this year…all  by himself.

Eating some “drum sticks”

Stinkin’ cute face.

Seriously, he had a lot.

The Drum cake

The spread. Complete with “Keyboard Sandwiches,” “Bass Clef Whole Note” Fruit Salad, “Crashing Cymbal” cookies and “drum stick” pretzels

It seemed to be a hit. We’re happy Brit was able to have a fun party this year and he got to do some of his favorite things.

Like play a game* with Aunt Chezney. *This means watching as other people play.

Happy Birthday Britty!

I just love my Britton. He is so darling and precious! I was just putting him down for a nap and he wanted a story. He chose “The Night You Were Born.” I got it from a good friend for my shower and we’ve read it before, but it’s been a while.

Maybe I’m still extra emotional, but from the first page I was totally crying. I’m not a crier. Well, I wasn’t before having a kid. It just hit me how much of a miracle a baby is and how magical the day of their birth is. Maybe it’s because he just turned 2 and I can’t believe he’s grown up so fast, but I barely got through the story.

I think I’m definitely one who grew into loving my baby. I loved him right away, of course, but I know for certain that it’s also been a process and I’ve grown to love him more every day. Like every toddler, he tries my patience, but he is such a little angel and quite the character, that I just have to sit back and try to remember to relish this time.

I mean, who could really not love this:

Oh, and someone told him about saying cheese before a photo, and now he really does.

His bear “Bop”

All snuggled up!

Yes…he needed a picture of this.

Pick a color

Put it away

Notice there’s not really any coloring going on. Just putting them in and out.

This has been our excitement the past few weeks. I know. Tremendous amounts.

Maybe when this rain stops we’ll actually go out and do things again.

Well, one morning he wanted a hat.  We had to look until we found one he wanted. Apparently it was a baseball hat. He even called it that.

He loves the iPod touch and begs to play. His favorites are the letter and number games.

He pulled my glasses out of my bag the other day and showed us how cool he was.

Brit colored his since we figured a knife wouldn’t be a super good idea.

Mark starting on his masterpiece

Brit likes the guts!

Yes, that’s his eye

Happy Jack

On Thursday we went Trick-or-Treating at a retirement home near by. Some of the residents were excited to see us, some of them couldn’t have cared less. But, the kids got to go running around in a new place, so that was fun.

On Friday at Musicmakers all the kids dressed up and then we decorated cookies afterward. Brit loves the sticks!

Put your finger in the sprinkles

Dump them out

Get them all over the “designated work area”

Lick the frosting  and enjoy!

We had a fun week. Did fun things…almost every day. Disneyland was one of them. I still haven’t posted about it. Until NOW! Yay! I know, you’re super excited.

We always get ribbed by non-Californians about how little we go to the beach. They claim that if they lived here they’d go every day…or at least once a week. Yeah. We’re not like that. We go maybe 3 times a year…and that’s when people are in town. Go on our own? There are way too many things to do on a Saturday to make that happen.

But, on the occasion of a visit, well, that’s a different story. We’re all about the beach. Especially Britton. He loves getting his legs splashed in the waves and laying in the sand. Though, not digging or playing much because he doesn’t like the feel of it.

Another couple of reasons we don’t go to the beach much–we didn’t know we actually liked any beaches in LA county. Malibu is only good for ?, Santa Monica is a little dirty, and I don’t know, we don’t think about the rest. But, thanks to a suggestion from my beach connoisseur friend Paige we went to Manhattan Beach and it was really nice. Second reason–I burn! Seriously, I must have had defective sunscreen because I put on SPF 30 waterproof everywhere when we got there, and in a few spots a second time and 2 hours later I was FRIED! It wasn’t noticeable at first, but by the next day I looked lobsteresque. Not fun.

Next stop–the Aquarium. Sadly, we’ve severely under used our pass this year.

The birds really liked Leslie.

Britton really liked the clown fish. This is him saying “Momo”

On our trip to Vegas for the Expo Brit chilled with the Fruit Loops. Woah crazy hair. Kristie–we miss you!

At one point, he started crawling backward down the beach toward the water…in a round about kind of way. It was the same thing he does when he’s about to go down stairs backwards. Every once in a while he’d stop and look behind him to see where he was, then start backing up again.

We’ll have to make an effort to go down more often. It’s just so crowded on Saturdays when Mark can go with us. We should take advantage of it while we’re here though.